Sunday, 15 November 2015

This weekend we made the most of the grim, wet Autumn by being in the sea all weekend. I love enjoying the weather most people hate and are tucked up inside from! We went to Downderry for a cross on/onshore starboard tack session, very gusty on a 4.2 and it was pretty tricky to pick non choppy waves, I had a lot of fun though. Here are a few pics, think I need to improve those donkey kicks! (Poor quality due to poor visibility and failing light!)

This morning we went back for the same again, but the wind wasn't as forecast so we ended up having a barely planing session. After some food we tried again and had a good freestyle session at Torpoint. More wind to come this week!

Wednesday, 11 November 2015

The British Wavesailing competition in Tiree this year was unfortunately not very windy with high pressures over Tiree for the whole week. This did mean however it was the warmest its ever been (I've been about 4-5 times) and the weather was gorgeous! On the last two days the sea was mirror flat which was amazing to see on an exposed Scottish Island! Of course as soon as we left on the Saturday to get back to work, the next week was firing...

During the week we did manage a competition day, with very light cross/cross-on conditions, port tack at The Maze. I was on 5.0 and an 80 litre board-big equipment for me! The girls had 5 heats, Sara Kellett won the first two with me in second, then I got the next two so the pressure was on for the final heat! The wind really dropped off and Sara clinched the win in a pretty close heat! I didn't get any photos of me, so here is one of Sara's waves:

The rest of the week involved lots of surfing at Ballevullin which was great fun, shoulder to head high waves and clean. We also did some gorge walking at Balephuil and some freediving, the last session at Balephetrish with about 30 curious seals! They didn't get close enough for me to get a picture but it was an incredible feeling anticipating the next sighting and seeing them swim so effortlessly underwater!

The Cornwall Wave Classic at Gwithian had great conditions on Friday for the Pro Men's competition, if a little offshore. It was the first down the line session of the Autumn, so all the competitors had taken Friday afternoon off to sail! Here are a couple of photos of the Pro guys:

The Saturday and Sunday had no wind, but really good clean swell so I made the most of surfing all weekend! Here is a photo of Ben Proffit surfing, and the trophies event organiser Ian Ross got made-I guess these will have to wait for next year!

Having only had a competition in Tiree, Sara won the British title this year, with me in second and Rachel Ince in third. Lets see if I can win it back next year!

Now the clocks have changed and it is dark after work, Autumn seems to have turned on, with lots of wind and swell heading our way! Lets hope there is some truth in this!

About Me

I started windsurfing when I was 16 on family watersports holidays once a year. I got properly hooked on my gap year in the British Army in 2005, competing and training in Egypt, Holland and the UK. During this year I saved some money for my own kit and in 2006 started studying aerospace engineering at Southampton University, joining the windsurf club. Sailing around the South coast with lots of friends provided lots of competition, and competing all around the country against other Universities in the Student Windsurf Association events gave me an appetite for competing. For the last couple of years at University I competed in the UK wave circuit, travelling to Wales, Ireland and Scotland. In 2010 after University I secured a job with a big engineering firm, Babcock, but managed to get a deferred entry and sailed in Brazil, Maui and the Canaries, competing in my first PWA event in Gran Canaria. Now I live and work in Plymouth in the UK and sail and surf as much as possible around my job.